"I live in the suburbs of London and came here for vacation, but I'm actually not very interested in the forest or Shakespeare's birthplace."

On the way to the apartment, Hermione suddenly turned to look at Harry and said.

Harry was caught off guard by her sudden movement and could only reply vaguely.

"Uh, yeah, that does sound a bit boring."

"You already know quite a bit about me. Out of courtesy, you should introduce yourself too, right?" Seeing that Harry was being a bit dense, Hermione had to spell it out for him.

It was only then that Harry realized what she meant.

"My name is Dudley Dursley! You can just call me Dudley, and I live in, uh, Little Whinging in Surrey."

Hermione nodded in satisfaction.

"Good. Dudley, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Hermione? I can call you that, right?"

"Of course." Hermione suddenly lowered her voice, "I heard you call that man 'Professor' earlier. Are you part of some school's summer camp?"

Harry quickly waved his hands.

"No, no, Professor… My teacher is just temporarily looking after me..."

"So it's a special government department? I saw everything, don't try to fool me! That streetlamp was acting strangely… are you here to deal with it?"

"Could it be... could it be that you just imagined it?" Harry racked his brain for an answer.

Hermione didn't say anything else. She just crossed her arms and stared at Harry with her chin raised.

Harry felt uneasy under her gaze. The only person of his age he had come into contact with during this period was Luna, but the girl in front of him was nothing like Luna.

Soon, Harry was defeated.

"Alright, fine, you didn't imagine it. That streetlamp really is acting strange. My teacher and another man, Mr. Weasley, are here specifically to deal with it. But this is confidential… yes, just like you're thinking, the kind of secret only a few people are allowed to know! I can go explain it to your parents, but you can't tell anyone else."

Harry had obviously tried his best.

From what he'd learned about Sanguini, he understood how seriously wizards took the International Statute of Secrecy. To him, Hermione was just a regular Muggle girl with a strong personality.

Harry could only frame it as some sort of special government operation. As long as she didn't suspect magic, anything else would do.

Hermione was finally fully satisfied with Harry's 'honest' response.

"I knew it! The fact that you told me the truth means we can be real friends. Besides, I don't necessarily need to prove it to my parents." She flashed a sly smile, "I only said all that because I noticed you earlier."

Harry looked at Hermione with wide eyes.

Apparently, in just this short time, the girl had already left a deep impression on him.

Then, Harry said slowly,

"Well, in that case, I..."

But before he could finish, Hermione had already grabbed his arm and was pulling him toward her house.

"Come on, Dudley, it's so boring here. Maybe we can play checkers, and then you can tell me more about your teacher's work!"

As she dragged him along, Harry remembered the meaningful glance Severus had given him before he left.

He didn't resist much, understanding that his task today was to keep this girl occupied and far away from Arthur's work.

Mr. and Mrs. Granger are very nice people.

When they saw their daughter bringing home a boy, they were extremely welcoming and even prepared afternoon tea and snacks for Harry.

Hermione took Harry to her room.

Because this was an apartment their family rented for vacation, there weren't many decorations in the room. Instead, it was filled with books Hermione had brought from home, along with a telescope placed by the window.

Harry walked over to the telescope. From this spot, the streetlamp was clearly visible. It was obvious Hermione had noticed its strange behavior from here.

"I bet that odd man next door, old Mr. Foster, is the same kind of person as you all."

Hermione said as she took out a set of checkers from the cabinet.

Harry was repeatedly amazed by this girl's sharp mind. By now, he was almost numb to it. He peered through the telescope toward where Arthur was working.

Even though it was broad daylight, he couldn't make out the figure crouching by the streetlamp at all. So he was relieved and stepped away.

"Maybe." Harry relaxed a bit and spoke more casually. "I've only been with my teacher for a few days, so I don't know much yet."

He sat down on the carpet across from Hermione, and the two began setting up the checkers.

"So you came here specifically for that streetlamp?" Hermione pressed.

Harry, however, felt it was time to take control of the conversation. After all, he was now Severus Snape's student.

"Why do you keep asking me questions? Shouldn't we talk about you instead?" Harry looked at Hermione, "How do you seem to know everything already?"

Hermione straightened her back proudly.

"Read more! My dad always says that every problem just means you haven't read enough!"

Harry thought that made sense and nodded.

"My teacher told me something similar."

"Why do you keep saying 'teacher'? What about your parents?"

"They died when I was very young," Harry said calmly. "I grew up with my aunt and uncle until my teacher took me away."

"Oh!" Hermione gasped. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine. There's nothing to apologize for."

After all, they were just kids. Though Hermione was sharper than most and Harry had seen more than most his age, they quickly warmed up to each other.

Their fun wasn't limited to checkers. Hermione started telling Harry about all the books she'd read, and Harry nodded along seriously.

Soon, his attention was caught by a stuffed toy sitting near Hermione's bedside.

"What is that?"

Hearing Harry's question, Hermione turned and looked at the toy. She then casually picked it up.

"I don't know either. Maybe it's a platypus? Someone asked my dad to help treat a child the day before yesterday, and gave this to me as a thank-you gift."

"A sick child? But your dad's a dentist, right?" Harry had learned about the Grangers' professions earlier.

"Yes, but the man seemed desperate. He said his child was very ill and needed any doctor to take a look. So my dad hurried off with him."

As she spoke, Hermione squeezed the stuffed toy.

"But when he came back, Mum and I asked him how the child was doing, and he just stammered without giving a clear answer. He just handed me this platypus-like toy and said it was a gift from that man."

As she said this, she suddenly felt something hard inside the toy's duck-like snout, which made her pause.

"Is there something in there?"

But Harry looked at the puppet and felt it looked extremely familiar!

This didn't look like any ordinary animal. During his time on the run with Sanguini, he vaguely remembered seeing a creature like this in one of Sanguini's illustrated books.

'It was a magical creature, called...'

'A Niffler!'

Just as Harry recalled the name of the stuffed toy, Hermione had already unzipped its back and found the round, hard object hidden inside. It was a crystal-clear glass orb!

"Why would this be in here?" Hermione muttered curiously, and then reached out to the glass ball.

At that moment, an inexplicable sense of dread surged through Harry!

'What kind of normal person would give someone a stuffed toy of a magical creature?'

"Don't!"

He instinctively reached out to stop her from touching the object inside the doll.

However, Hermione's hand bumped into Harry's outstretched one, and in that instant, both of them touched the glass orb at the same time!

The next moment, they vanished without a trace!

Only the unzipped Niffler plush remained, tumbling onto the carpet.